Promptly at seven she entered the library. To her dismay, Mrs. Smith-Parvis was not alone. Her husband was there, and also Stuyvesant. If her life had depended on it, she could not have conquered the impulse to favour the latter's nose with a rather penetrating stare. A slight thrill of satisfaction shot through her. It _did_ seem to be a trifle red and enlarged. Mr. Smith-Parvis, senior, was nervous. Otherwise he would not have risen from his comfortable chair. "Good evening, Miss Emsdale," he said, in a palliative tone. "Have this chair. Ahem!" Catching a look from his wife, he sat down again, and laughed quite loudly and mirthlessly, no doubt actuated by a desire to put the governess at her ease,--an effort that left him rather flat and wholly non-essential, it may be said. His wife lifted her lorgnon. She seemed a bit surprised and nonplussed on beholding Miss Emsdale. "Oh, I remember. It is you, of course." Miss Emsdale had the effrontery to smile. "Yes, Mrs. Smith-Parvis." Stuyvesant felt of his nose. He did it without thinking, and instantly muttered something under his breath. "We owe you, according to my calculations, fifty-five dollars and eighty-two cents," said Mrs. Smith-Parvis, abruptly consulting a tablet. "Seventeen days in this month. Will you be good enough to go over it for yourself? I do not wish to take advantage of you." "I sha'n't be exacting," said Miss Emsdale, a wave of red rushing to her brow. "I am content to accept your--" "Be good enough to figure it up, Miss Emsdale," insisted the other coldly. "We must have no future recriminations. Thirty-one days in this month. Thirty-one into one hundred goes how many times?" "I beg pardon," said the girl, puzzled. "Thirty-one into one hundred?" "Can't you do sums? It's perfectly simple. Any school child could do it in a--in a jiffy." "Quite simple," murmured her husband. "I worked it out for Mrs. Smith-Parvis in no time at all. Three dollars and twenty-two and a half cents a day. Perfectly easy, if you--" "I am sure it is quite satisfactory," said Miss Emsdale coldly. "Very well. Here is a check for the amount," said Mrs. Smith-Parvis, laying the slip of paper on the end of the library table. "And now, Miss Emsdale, I feel constrained to tell you how gravely disappointed I am in you. For half-a-year I have laboured under the delusion that you were a lady, and qualified to have charge of two young and innocent--" "Oh, Lord," groaned Stuyvesant, fidgeting in his chair.